LIBRARY OF CONGRESS, 

,U. du^n^i fy. 

Shelf MS- 






UXITED STATES OF AMERICA. 



THE 



HOLY WARFARE. 



BY THE AUTHOR OF 



"Our Family Ways," and "The new 
Creation." 



■ 






IC/*^ 



I 



MILWAUKEE, WIS \ 

THE YOUNG CHURCHMAN CO. 
1894. 







Copyright, 1894. 

THE YOUNG CHURCHMAN CO. 

Milwaukee, Wis. 



INTRODUCTION 



INTRODUCTION. 



IT is hoped that this little book may find readers 
among children, but it is put forth primarily 
with a thought of the many young teachers 
in our Sunday Schools, who sadly confess that they 
have no idea how to convey a knowledge of the 
Truths of our Holy Faith to the little ones con- 
fided to their care. Their skill does not go beyond 
making the lesson hour pass more or less 
pleasantly in telling the children Bible stories, 
each one perhaps totally unconnected with 
that of the preceding Sunday, and all of them 
without any apparent connection with, and 
without any reference on the teacher's part 
to, the great Scheme of Redemption, the Divine 
plan for the reconciliation between God and man 
and the further development of the reconciled 
creature in Christ, which is the one thing need- 
ful for the children to know. The inspired Word 
is indeed taught literally, but its true meaning is 



The Holy Wabfare. 



missed — and necessarily missed ; for to begin with 
the Bible narratives is to reverse the order in 
which the teaching should be given. Surely 
there must first be some comprehension of God's 
Plan of Salvation. At least a fair outline of it 
must be given, and the children's interest in it 
awakened. After that, they will be in a position 
to understand the events of Sacred History as so 
.many details in the working out of the plan. 
The Scripture narratives will not then be to them 
simply " stories," which after a while must pall 
upon them, and which, indeed, as mere stories, are 
far less entertaining than their secular story 
books. In the call of Abraham to be the Founder 
of u a peculiar people," in the wonderful increase 
of his descendants into a great nation, in their 
miraculous deliverance from Egypt and establish- 
ment in the land of Canaan, the children will 
recognize something vastly transcending in inter- 
est all tales of fiction, if they learn of it as a part 
of the great and mysterious preparation for the 
coming of the Second Adam, Who, by making us 
partakers of His own Nature, would far more 
than repair the ruin caused by the sin of the first 
Adam. In the Sacrifice of Cain and Abel, in the 
Flood, in Jacob's dream, in the Paschal lamb, in 



The Holy Warfare. 



all types which can be brought within their com- 
prehension, they will learn to see the reference 
to the coming Redeemer, and to the Redemption 
to be worked out at last in the Christian Church. 
They must, of course, be led also to see in it the 
reference not only to the Redeemer but to the 
redeemed, to themselves, each one of them individ- 
ually, as souls in whose behalf all was done ; for 
teaching which is not "brought home " to the 
children is but a waste of time and breath. 

These six simple lessons are offered to young 
teachers, as an example of the manner in which 
they may easily give to the children committed to 
their charge this first comprehensive view of the 
Scheme of Redemption, which is necessary to their 
understanding of the Holy Scriptures. 

It is, perhaps, only in teaching to children the 
Great Truths of Revelation that one realizes how 
simple in their very grandeur those Truths are; 
and it is only with children, too, that one has the 
joy of seeing them accepted with a corresponding 
simplicity. With young children — these lessons 
were used with boys and girls from seven to eleven 
years of age — one has not to contend with the doubt 
which contact with the spirit of the world so quickly 
brings. The truths taught are received in their 



The Holy Wabfare. 



fulness, and quickly take firm root in the uncor- 
rupted mind and soul of the little ones. And see- 
ing that this is so, how lamentable is the fact 
that the truths of religion are usually not taught 
at the very age when they would be most easily 
learned, and most devoutly accepted. Too many 
wait until the children are twelve, thirteen, per- 
haps fourteen years of age, and then, suddenly 
aroused to the fact that they are " old enough to be 
confirmed," send them to be prepared for the 
next visitation of the Bishop; that is, they expect 
them to learn in a few weeks the tremendous 
mysteries of the Faith, and not only to learn 
them but to learn to accept them. For the happy 
time will be past when they would have been 
received without difficulty. At twelve years old, 
children have often already heard enough, either 
at home, at school or elsewhere, to know that 
everything is questioned, perhaps by those whom 
they love and respect. Not only that, but is not 
the mere fact that they hear now for the first 
time of such marvellous things, sufficient in itself 
to make them doubt the truth of them ? 

They may not be able to put their doubt into 
words, but do they not feel somewhat in this way ? 
u How is it possible that these things are so, and 



The Holy Warfare. 9 

we have never been told of them? How is it 
that we have been so many years in the Sunday 
School and have never known all this about the 
Sacraments ? If, at the Celebration of the Holy 
Communion, there is the Real Presence of our 
Blessed Lord, as at no other time, in the Human- 
ity which He shares with us, how is it that there 
has been no stress laid on our going into that 
Presence ? Our teachers did tell us, it is true. 
that we ought to be present at the Holy Euchar- 
ist, but they did not make us understand clearly 
why; and on the whole they seemed quite satis- 
fied if we were regular at Sunday School. And 
this about our Sacramental union with Christ, 
beginning at our Baptism — this wonderful parti- 
cipation in the Divine Nature — how is it possible 
that we should not have been told all this sooner, 
if it be really a fact? Surely, it is just a figura- 
tive way of speaking — true, of course, in one 
way — only not — not — not really true." 

Ah ! why, indeed, were they not told sooner — 
told at an age when God's children, not having 
yet wandered far from Him, easily hear and 
recognize His Voice. 

That great teacher of childhood. Bishop Dupan- 
loup. in his "Ministry of Catechising" (a book 



10 The Holy Warfare. 

which every Sunday School teacher should study), 
speaking of the u intelligent simplicity'' with 
which children receive the Faith, says: 

" You tell them there is a Kingdom of Heaven: 
they are delighted to learn it; you tell them there 
is a Son of God Who came down to earth, Who 
was born in a stable, and Who died upon a Cross- 
to save us: they believe it with joy. They have 
no difficulty in thinking, since man had such 
great need that God should come to save him, 
that God did come. In the clear simplicity of 
their reason, they understand why the Creator 
should come down to His creation to save it, since 
He had already condescended to come down to 
create it. They feel that God coming down to 
hold out a hand to the work of His hands, has, as 
Redeemer, only finished the work of the Creator. 
To the child, to this young and quick mind, which 
has not yet by contact with men lost its candour 
and uprightness, in whom the corruptions of the 
world have not yet changed the simple and sub- 
lime taste for pure truth, the one is not more 
astonishing than the other."* 

Perhaps a sad smile of incredulity creeps over 
the face of some in reading these words. They 

* Ministry of Catechising, p. 36. 



The Holy Warfare. 11 

have utterly failed, it may be, to perceive in 
children any of that ll delight," that "joy," of 
which the good Bishop speaks as a matter of 
course. But there was another thing which he 
expected as a matter of course of their teachers, 
which justified him in anticipating with certainty 
this effect of their teaching. He expected long 
and thorough preparation on their part. He him- 
self — one of the most celebrated of sacred orators, 
to whose sermons the greatest intellects of France 
thronged — never took less than four or five hours 
to prepare an instruction for children, and even 
devoted sometimes the better part of a week to 
the preparation of an important catechising. 
The weightiest discourses which he delivered on 
the most momentous occasions — when one might 
almost say the whole political, as well as the 
whole religious world, was waiting on his words — 
did not cost him more pains, according to his 
own testimony, than the addresses to the lambs 
of his flock, in which he tried to teach them the 
Truths of religion. 

No wonder, then, that when he tried, he was 
successful. Xo wonder, also, that when others 
try. after either no preparation at all. or a hurried 
half hour's search for something— anything — 



The Holy Wabfabe. 



with which to contrive to fill up the lesson time, 
no wonder the;/ do not succeed. 

It is no easy matter to speak of the tremen- 
dous mysteries of the Faith without overstepping 
the boundaries of the vocabulary of childhood, 
and unless much thought be taken beforehand, a 
teacher may speak well, but it will be in a lan- 
guage not understood by his young audience. 
Indeed, even if his words were clear, it may be 
doubted whether he could ever speak well without 
preparation; for "to speak well is to speak so 
that the children shall be impressed."* that the 
teaching shall go to the heart, and for that it 
must come from the heart. " Heart speaks to 
heart: the tongue speaks only to ears." says St. 
Francis de Sales: and how can an instruction 
which has been felt to be of so little consequence 
that no thought has been bestowed upon it. be 
spoken from. the heart? The responsive faculty 
is that through which one must succeed with 
children; how then can there be zeal or interest 
on their part if there is none on the part of their 
teacher? If all "joy." all t% delight." in spiritual 
things is wanting in the children, is it not often 
the inevitable effect of its absence in the teachers ? 

* Ministry of Catechising. 



The Holy Warfare. 13 

"If the catechist," says the Abbe Fleury, 
"speaks of the mysteries of religion dryly and 
coldly, like indifferent things, he must not expect 

any great fruit from his instructions 

Children take their impressions better from out- 
ward things than from words. If. therefore, you 
desire to inspire them with the fear or the love of 
God. you must show that you yourself are pene- 
trated by these sentiments; and to show it. you 
must really be so. When they see you relating 
the wonders of God with deep reverence, showing 
naturally by your manner that you are filled with 
fear and admiration, you will carry them with 
you. If you yourself seem to them to be looking 
forward to the Kingdom of Christ, and longing 
for the blessed Eternity; if you tell them in fit- 
ting words of the glory of the resurrection body, 
the joys of Paradise, etc., etc., the children will be 
touched, impressed.'' 

To be convinced that this was not mere theory, 
that the children who were so fortunate as to be 
thus taught were indeed touched and impressed, one 
has only to read of the success of the great French 
catechists. and of the noted catechists of our day. 
in our own communion — Bishop Doane the elder, 
for instance, and Dean Burton, who thought no 



14 The Holy Wabfabe. 

preparation could be too careful, too thorough, 
for the work of catechising to which both were 
so devoted. Indeed, do we really need anything 
to convince us what the result of such teaching 
would be? Some among us have had teachers 
who were after this sort, and know the work they 
did in the soul ; others, less fortunate, in looking 
back on ourselves as children and remembering the 
simplicity with which our little hearts turned to 
Grod, can see what such teaching would have 
made of us, and from how much it would have 
saved us. 

How often we sigh over the comparatively 
small results of mission work among adults. In 
that, as Bishop Dupanloup says, "we only glean; 
the Devil has already reaped the harvest. But by 
work among children we may sow." They are 
the men and women of the next generation, and 
we might prepare a very different harvest field for 
the workers who come after us, if we only would. 
The difficulty in bringing wanderers — unbelievers 
or open sinners — back into the fold, would be 
incalculably lessened if there were a response in 
their own hearts to our words — an echo out of 
the days of their childhood; a recollection of a 
former knowledge of that Fold, of its Shepherd, 



The Holy Warfare. 15 

of its privileges and of its laws; a calling to 
mind of a former belief in God — not a mere 
recognition of His existence, but a belief in Him 
as He has revealed Himself, as Creator, Redeemer, 
Sanctifier; a re-awakening of a former knowledge 
of His wondrous Incarnation, and of the Salva- 
tion which, in consequence of that Incarnation, 
awaits all penitents in the Sacraments. Who 
does not know the feeling of almost despair with 
which one recognizes that a soul for which one is 
labouring has never known these things ? Who 
does not know what a miracle of God's grace is 
needed before they can be accepted by that soul 
grown old in ignorance? 

Yet we are not seeing to it that the next gen- 
eration of men and women shall be different. 
We let the days pass in inaction when we could 
be writing indelible lessons on tender hearts: a 
few years later, and we shall be found labouring 
with infinite toil and pains, over those very same 
hearts, endeavouring to erase at least some of the 
lessons which the world, the flesh and the Devil 
have in the meantime not been backward in im- 
printing upon them, that there may be at least 
a little corner cleared for the reception of the 



16 The Holy Warfare. 

only lesson the soul which proceeds from God 
needs to learn — the lesson how to return to Him. 

What insanity! 

Dear brothers and sisters, you to whom the 
following pages are dedicated, you who are among 
the under shepherds of the Great Shepherd, will 
you not see to it that there shall be a different 
state of things in that corner of His pasture which 
He has committed to your care? "Take these 
children and train them for Me," He has said to 
you. Have you made a serious response to His 
confidence? Or have you been influenced by that 
strangely prevalent idea, that any teaching (any 
religious teaching, that is) is good enough for child- 
ren ; that in religion it is as well to let the twig 
take what direction it will — with the firm inten- 
tion, of course, of sparing no effort later, exhaust- 
ing oneself, should it be necessary, to bring the 
tree back into some sort of shape? 

Are the children our Lord confided to you 
growing in grace? If not, will you not ask your- 
self why not ? Our Lord's under-shepherds must 
go, as He did, before the flock. Do the children 
see in you an example of love to God, of firm 
faith in Him, which they can follow ? And if 
love and faith are already sprung up in their 



The Holy Warfare. 17 

hearts, are you taking eare to place that faith on 
a sure foundation of solid instruction ? 

"The faith in the child's soul must be devel- 
oped, enlightened, strengthened by instruction; 
it is then, as our Lord says, not founded on the 
sand, but on the rock. 

"If you only produce impressions on the chil- 
dren, you are doing nothing ; you are tracing on 
shifting sand which the wind carries away; you 
must give conviction, the faith must rest on the 
solid rock of serious instruction— a living and 
enlightened, a deep and firm faith."* 

It is a mistake to think, as so many do. that 
it is impossible to give this solid religious instruc- 
tion to children. It may be hard, sometimes, to 
find the simple words and illustrations which will 
convey the truth to their minds; but not nearly 
so hard as it will be to find words which will 
interest them when they have grown to be young 
men and women, if they are neglected now. How 
disheartening are the wandering eyes and dull 
ears of many of our Sunday School classes of 
boys and girls, of from fifteen to eighteen years 
of age — although teachers are often glad if they 
have nothing worse to contend with, if there is no 

* Ministry of Catechising, p. 316. 



18 The Holy Warfabe. 

silly, frivolous talking and tittering among the 
girls, and open impertinence on the part of the 
boys, with of course utter absence of reverence 
in both. And this in young people who have 
been under Sunday School instruction from child- 
hood ! 

You have watched all that. Is that what 
the children in your class are going to develope 
into ? Are these little ones who are sent to you 
to be taught about God and His Revelation to 
man, are they to find themselves on the verge of 
manhood and womanhood without any real 
knowledge of God, and of the things of God. and 
without any wish for such knowledge — knowing, 
indeed, that there is a God. but having no love 
for Him, for His Word, or for His House ? 

Ah, no ! To you. surely, you will not let it be 
said : " Where is the flock that was given thee, 
thy beautiful flock ?" ( Jer. xm. 20.) If you have 
not yet taken your duties as Sunday School teacher 
seriously, it has been from nothing worse than 
thoughtlessness, or from the idea that children 
cannot be taught very much. They can, and you 
can teach them. u Love God and love the child- 
ren, and you will be a good teacher." You do 
not particularly love children ? Pray that you 



The Holy Warfare. 19 

may do so. Our Blessed Lord loved them; pray 
that you may love His little ones for His sake. 
Pray, too, for zeal to serve Him in this way that 
He has shown you, zeal which shall not count as 
lost the many hours you must spend in prepara- 
tion — a preparation of prayer and study — in order 
to lead these souls to Him, these young souls of 
whom, in consequence of your efforts, the Lord 
may be able to say, "They shall be Mine in that 
day when I write up My jewels" (Mai. in. 17). 

House of the Holy Nativity, 

Providence, R. I. 
S. Michael and All Angels, 1894. 



tEl;BrB raa$ mar in IlBaoBn, HHrfjaBl anb 
fjig Jf^ngBfe fongfjf againsf ffjB bragon; anb 
fFfB bragon fongfjf fjis JlngBls, anb prBoailBb 
rtnf; nBtffjBr mas HjBrB plarB fonnb anymorB 
in IpBaoBn, Bbxu xti 7. 8. 

l|om art ffjou fallen from If BaoBn, B Euri- 
fer, ^on of ffjB morning* Usa. xft). 12. 

H bBfjBlb ^afan, as ligfjfning, fall from 
IpBaoBn, XukB x. 18. 




Ltf %rc j)? li$t anbtl]wma^ LlpI)C 



CHAPTER I. 



LET us look back for a little while, children, to 
that time when God had not yet made this 
earth — when He had not yet made anything, 
in fact, so that if we could really go back to that 
time and look about us, we should see nothing at 
all but just empty space: no earth, no sun, no 
moon, no stars — nothing and no one, because 
God had not yet created anything or anyone. 

There was no one then but God. 

Now we might think God would have been 
lonely. Yet He was not. Do you know why 
not ? 

Suppose you were taking a sea-voyage, and 
you were wrecked and cast alone on a desert 
island. 

How dreadfully lonely you would be ! 

The island might be very beautiful, might 
have plenty of fruit trees so that you would not 
suffer from hunger, and a warm climate so that 
you would not suffer from cold, vou might find 



24 The Holy Wabfabe. 

everything you needed there, but you could not be 
happy; it would be so dreadful to be always alone. 

But suppose instead of one person being cast 
away on the island, there were three: and suppose 
they were persons who loved each other very 
much, who were always happy and contented 
together; they would not be lonely, would they? 

So now cannot you tell ine why God was not 
lonely ? 

Yes; I am sure you know it was because in 
the One God there are Three Persons — the Father. 
the Son, and the Holy Ghost — and there never 
was a moment when these Three Persons were not 
together, always united in love, always perfectly 
happy * 

* Teachers must be careful to bear in mind that illustrations 
of the relations between the Three Persons of the Blessed 
Trinity, drawn from the relations between three human beings, 
can be correct only to a certain point. Tor in the case of three 
created beings, however closely they may be united by ties of 
blood or of affection, the existence of each is an entirely separate 
existence, depending- in no wise on that of the others; one may 
exist without the others. But the One God exists as a Trinity of 
Persons. To be Three Persons in One God is of His very Being. 

As soon as the children can grasp this it should be taught 
them; and in the mean while, teachers must be very guarded 
against the temptation to use apparently apt illustrations and 
striking comparisons which are in reality false. This is very 
necessary in teaching of any article of the Faith. An interest- 
ing illustration will captivate a child's fancy and will be readilv 
retained in the memory; and if there lurk some seed of error in 
it, there is great danger that just that will later spring up and 
cause, perhaps, much trouble. 



The Holy Warfare. 



Yes. the One God in Three Persons was - 
perfectly happy that He did not need to have any- 
one else about Him in order to be happier: He 
was already as happy as it was possible to be. 

Then why did He create anyone ? 

Why. you know when people are happy they 
want others to share their happiness — unless they 
are selfish. Of course, if a child is selfish and 
mean, why then, if it has something nice, some- 
thing that gives it pleasure, it wants to keep it 
for itself, it does not want to share it with others. 
So long as it is happy and has what it wants, it 
does not care whether its playmates are happy and 
have what they want or not. 

But there cannot be any selfishness about God. 

So, when God was happy He wanted others to 
be happy, too. It seems as if He thought it a 
pity, as we say. that there should be no one to 
vshare His great happiness. 

Then, too. God is so loving. 

God is Love. And so He wanted to be sur- 
rounded by living beings whom He could love. 
and who would love Him. 

And so He created them. 

Do you know the difference between make and 
create ? 



26 The Holy Wabfare. 

To create is to make out of nothing. 

We can make things, but we must have some- 
thing to make them of. 

God can make out of nothing. He has only 
to speak. 

u He spake the word, and it was made; He 
commanded, and it was created.'" 

Then, too, we cannot make any Iking thing. 
We can make figures which are so life-like 
that they are sometimes mistaken for living per- 
sons; but only God can put life into what He 
makes. He makes our bodies and puts life into 
them; and of course He can take it away again 
when He likes. Our life, you see, is really His. 

Now, what living beings did God create first ? 

Adam and Eve, do you say ? 

Well, no; it could not be Adam and Eve, 
because you remember we are talking of the time 
before God made the earth, and He did not make 
Adam and Eve until He had made a place for 
them to live in. 

No; He created first some very beautiful be- 
ings — you must have seen pictures of them — the 
Angels. Not that our pictures are anything like 
so beautiful as Angels really are, but we do the 
best we can to represent them. 



The Holy Warfare. 27 

So far as we know, the Angels were the first 
created beings. 

God did not make a world for them to live in, 
as He did afterwards for Adam; He had them live 
in Heaven with Him. 

Angels are very different from us, you know. 

God makes us little at first, and we grow up 
gradually. It takes many years before we are as 
large and strong as we are going to be. But 
God created the Angels large and strong, they did 
not have to grow up. And they never grow old 
and weak, as we do, and never die. 

Now, should you not suppose that people who 
were always strong and well, and who had not 
only all they needed, but every pleasure and hap- 
piness, and who lived in a more beautiful country 
than we can even imagine — should you not sup- 
pose they would all have been contented and 
happy ? 

It would seem as if they must have been, for 
they lived there with God. 

We all know how nice it is to live with people 
who are always pleasant, who do not get ;i put 
out" and angry, and speak cross words, but are 
always gentle and kind, and always trying to 



28 The Holy Wabfare. 

make us happy. How pleasant it is to live with 
such persons, is it not ? 

We may be sure God was always kind to the 
Angels; and so it seems strange to learn that some 
were not satisfied. 

There was one especially who was discontented 
and made some of the others so. His name seems 
to have been Lucifer. It was a beautiful name; it 
meant u Light-bearer," and probably he was a 
very beautiful and powerful Angel. 

But he wanted to be still greater and more 
powerful than God had made him. He was very 
ambitious and very proud; he did not want to 
obey God; he did not want to be under anyone — 
not even God. 

So he was very discontented. 

Of course he tried to make others feel as he 
did; and he succeeded with a good many. 

And what do you suppose these bad Angels did ? 

They made war against God and the Angels 
who had remained faithful to Him ! 

Lucifer came with his army of bad angels, and 
the good Angels, with the Archangel Michael for 
their leader, had to fight them. 

So, in that beautiful Heaven, where all had 



The Holy Warfare. 29 

been peace and happiness, there was war and 
fighting. 

We do not know in just what way the Angels 
fought. You need not suppose they used guns 
or swords. 

There are many ways of fighting. 

Men may fight with their tongues, you know; 
we talk sometimes of u a war of words." Or they 
may fight with pens — when they w T rite books 
against each other. 

So we cannot tell what sort of a war it was 
between the bad and the good Angels; we only 
know there was a great fight between those who 
were true to the good God and those who wanted 
to have their own way and to be their own master. 

It may seem strange that God did not stop the 
quarrelling and fighting as soon as it began; we 
may wonder that He allowed it even to begin at 
all — that He permitted strife and warfare in His 
Heaven. 

But you see it was necessary that the Angels 
should be tried, to see if they would really of 
themselves choose God and His service. God 
would not force them to love and serve Him. It 
would not have been true love or true service that 



30 The Holy Warfare, 

they gave Him unless they gave it of their own 
free will. 

So He allowed them to have this opportunity 
of choosing. 

Would they be on God's side or on the side of 
His enemies — that was the question. They must 
make their free choice. If they chose rightly, 
they would be for ever happy with God; if they 
chose wrongly — if they would not be God's ser- 
vants — then of course they could not remain with 
Him, they would have to be sent away and would 
be miserable for ever, for no one can be happy 
who is separated from God. People often think 
they can be, but their happiness will not last. 

Some of the Angels, then, chose wrongly. 
They refused to be God's servants, and rebelled 
and fought against Him. 

Now, of course no one can succeed who fights 
against God, and Lucifer and his army were pro- 
bably very soon beaten by God's army, led by the 
Archangel Michael. 

Then Lucifer and the bad Angels were cast 
out of Heaven. 

When we are discontented, dissatisfied with 
the place where God has put us, or with the 
house He .has given us, or with our clothes, or 



The Holy Warfare. 31 



our food — which all come from Him: when we 
grumble and say we do not see why we cannot 
have things like this one or that one among our 
playmates, whom are we like ? 

That bad Angel was the first grumbler, and 
when we grumble and complain, we are like 
Lucifer. 

Or if we are disobedient to those who are over 
us. to our parents, our teachers, perhaps to God's 
priests, we are like those bad Angels, who were 
cast out of Heaven for disobedience and rebellion. 




The Archangel Michael, 

As Painted by Rapbsel. 



STIjb bragon, ffjaf nib serpenf, rofjtrfj is flje 
®eoiI anb ^afan. Ben* sex, 2, 

CfjB Beoil nms a mnrhecer from ifje Begin- 
ning, anb abobe nof in ffje frnflj, Because ifjere 
is no Unit) in fyxm. IDFjen I;e speakeff; a lie, 
fje speakeil; of Ijis jo urn; for fje is a liar, anb 
Ifje father of it ,§♦ Hofjn otiu 44. 



CHAPTER II. 



ALTHOUGH Lucifer and his companions had 
been so wicked, God would no doubt have for- 
given them if they had repented — if they had 
been really sorry, that is, for what they had done. 

But they were not sorry. After they had 
been overcome in the fight with the Archangel 
Michael and the good Angels, and had been cast 
out of Heaven, they did not repent of their sin. 

They went on growing more and more wicked, 
and hating God more and more. They were so 
wicked that they did not even want to be with 
God and the good Angels again. When people 
get to be very bad indeed, they do not like good 
people; they do not want to be with them, it 
makes them uncomfortable; they would rather 
be with bad people like themselves. 

But although the bad Angels did not really 
want to be with God, yet they were very angry 
all the same at having been cast out of Heaven, 
and wished there were some way in which they 
could take their revenge. 



36 The Holy Warfare. 

Do you know what that means? 

Taking our revenge means doing harm to 
others, because they have harmed us — or we think 
they have. 

Persons do something to us. or say something 
about us, that we do not like: and we are so 
angry that we want to do something bad to them, 
or say something unkind about them in return. 
We want to "pay them off,*' as people say. 

0, dear children, if you are ever tempted to do 
that — to take your revenge — to do or say some- 
thing unkind because you are angry at something 
that has been said or done to you — remember 
that you would be like those bad Angels. 

It is true that sometimes the persons you are 
angry with have done you some wrong — while 
God, of course, was right in what He did; but 
even if they have, that would be no excuse for 
your having such hateful feelings about them. 
because our Blessed Lord has said we must forgive 
and love even our enemies. 

So when you feel revengeful, remember that 
your feelings are just the same wicked feelings 
those bad Angels had when they were angry with 
God and wanted to take their revenge on Him. 

You would be verv sorrv. I am sure, to think 



The Holy Warfare. 37 

you were like them, and yet you may very easily 
be so unless you are careful. 

There was another way in which we saw that 
we might be like them. How was that? 

By being discontented, by murmuring and 
grumbling, was it not? And now we see that we 
can be like them also by being so angry with peo- 
ple that we want to hurt them. 

Well, these bad Angels were always on the 
watch to see if there were not some way in which 
they could trouble God; and at last they thought 
they had found a way. 

As they were watching, they saw God making 
this earth. 

They saw Him make the sun to give light by 
day and the moon to give light by night, and the 
beautiful stars. They saw Him make the sea and 
the dry land, the fishes to live in the water and ani- 
mals of all kinds to live on the land, birds to fly 
in the air, and trees, and plants, and grass, and 
all things that grow. 

Then they saw that in one part of the earth 
He made a most beautiful garden. 

At first, there were only the animals there — 
which were probably all tame and gentle, no 
fierce and cruel ones among them: but at last 



38 The Holy Warfare: 

God created some one who was to be the master 
of the whole place. 

You know who that was, and you know what 
the garden was called — the Garden of Eden, or 
Paradise. Not the same Paradise, mind, that we 
have talked of sometimes — the Paradise in the 
Land of Departed Spirits. Paradise means gar- 
den; and this Paradise was a beautiful garden on 
this earth, the other Paradise is a beautiful gar- 
den in the Land of Departed Spirits. 

God gave Eden and the whole earth to Adam. 
And He loved Adam very much, and Adam's wife,. 
Eve; and if they were good, He did not mean 
that they should ever die, as men do now, but 
after they had lived a certain time on earth, and 
had shared in His love and happiness even here r 
He would give them an endless life of bliss in 
union with Him in Heaven. 

Now, when God created all these beautiful 
things, the good Angels shouted for joy (Job 
xxxviii. 7). But the bad Angels felt no pleasure 
at the beauty of God's work; they only looked on 
angrily. 

And then they laid a wicked plan. 

They seem to have thought something of this 
kind: u Ah! now is our chance to make God 



The Holy Warfare. 



trouble. Here is this man whom God has created 
and whom He loves so much. God wants Adam 
to be very good, so that He can take him to live 
with Him in Heaven, and be happy with Him for 
ever. Now, if only we can persuade Adam not to 
be good, if we can get him to do something 
wrong, then we shall succeed in grieving God.'' 

This was a fearfully wicked thing for them to 
think, was it not ? 

Then they probably had another wicked 
thought. 

They not only hated God, but they hated man, 
too. They may have said something like this: 
u This man, that God has created — why should 
he go and live in Heaven when we have been cast 
out! We will not let him go! We will make 
him do wrong - make him sin; we will make him 
like ourselves and so keep him out of Heaven. If 
we cannot be there, he shall not be there, either, 
if we can prevent it." . 

So Lucifer, who was the worst of all of them, 
and who was their leader, undertook to try to make 
Adam sin. 

This bad Angel's name, however, was not 
Lucifer any longer. He had lost the beautiful 



40 The Holy Warfare. 

name he had in Heaven, and God called him now 
by another name. 

Cannot you tell me what ? Have you not 
guessed who this bad Angel is? 

Satan, j^es. 

Satan means an Enemy. 

You know what an enemy is — one who hates 
another and wants to do him harm. You see 
what a fitting name that was to give to Lucifer, 
for he was the enemy of God and man. 

So Satan, as we must now call him, came to 
the Garden of Eden. 

He found that there was one thing which God 
had told Adam and Eve they must not do — they 
must not eat of one particular tree which grew in 
the garden. They might eat of all the others, 
but not of that one. 

Then Satan determined he would persuade 
them to eat of it. 

You may wonder why- God allowed Satan to 
tempt Adam and Eve, if He really loved them so 
much. Why did He not keep Satan away from 
them ? 

God did indeed love them, but it was necessary 
for them to be tried — just as it had been neces- 
sarv for the Angels to be tried, vou remember— 



The Holy Warfabe. 41 

in order to see if they would of themselves choose 
God and His service. 

God loved them and wanted them to love and 
serve Him, that they might be happy with Him 
for ever; but it must be of their own free will. 
They must have the opportunity of making their 
choice, as the Angels had had the opportunity of 
making theirs. 

The question was the same that it had been in 
the case of the Angels: Would they be on God's 
side or on the side of His enemies? Would they, 
or not. be God's obedient children, to love and to 
serve Him ? 

It was in order that they might have the 
opportunity of making their free choice, that God 
permitted Satan to tempt them to be disobedient 

Satan thought he would try the woman first. 

You may be sure he did not appear as what he 
was — a bad angel. He took quite another form — 
the form of a serpent, the Bible says. 

All of you. perhaps, have seen small serpents 
or snakes, as we generally call them, and you 
know something about them. 

You know how we go out sometimes into a 
garden, or into the fields, and evervthino- about 
us looks so beautiful: tall, waving grass, and 



42 The Holt Wabfabe. 

pretty flowers and bashes; nothing ugly, nothing 
harmful anywhere near as, apparently. And then 

all at once, in the grass or under the bushes, we 
see a snake "gliding along, so noiselessly that it 

has come close to us without our knowing it. 

Some snakes are very poisonous, as you knew. 
Their bite will kill a person. And yet some of 

them are very beautiful, and no one would g m 
from their looks that they are so dangerous. 
No doubt, as Satan came gliding into that 

peaceful garden, he made himself very attractive 
or Eve would not have listened to him bo readily. 
As it was, she talked with him about the T 

and told him that God had said that if they ate of 

it they would die. 

Then Satan said: "Did <T<>d say that? Ah. 

but it is not so: you would not die. The truth 
of the matter is this: if you ate of that tree you 
would be very wise, you would know a great deal 
more than you do now: you would be like <tm,1 
Himself, and He is not willing you should be — 
that is why He said you must not eat of that tree." 

See what a wicked, wicked lie ! Satan was 
the first liar. 

So here is another way in which we may be 
like him. Think of that, when you are tempted 



The Holy Wabfabe. 43 

to say anything that is not true, for any reason 
whatever. Think: %, 0. I shall be like Satan if I 
do." 

And the Bible tells us God hates liars. So if 
any of you have said things which were not true, 
and perhaps have not even felt sorry about it 
afterwards, try to be sorry now. very sorry. Do 
not go to bed to-night until you have told God 
how sorry you are. Tell Him you do not want to 
be like His enemy. Satan, and ask Him to forgive 
you and help you not to sin in that way anymore. 

Satan, then, told this dreadful lie, and Eve 
actually believed 'Satan rather than God ! 

How could she ! 

Well, in the first place, you see the tree was 
very attractive looking. And then, if the beauti- 
ful fruit was really good for food and not harm- 
ful, as God had said, it seemed to Eve a great pity 
not to use it. Besides. Satan had said it would 
make her wise, and Eve thought it would be very 
nice to know a great deal. 

You see Satan had not only made himself 
attractive, but he had made sin look attractive, 
too. It really seemed to Eve a very desirable thing 
that she should eat of the tree; it appeared to her 
that much good would come from eating of it. 



U The Holt Wabfabe. 

That is the way Satan goes to work with every 
one of us. When 1 • - into Bin, 

he makes the sin look as pleasant an tive 

as he possibly can, so thai some! 
not look like sin at all. Bat we can always tell 
whether it Is sin or not by ask _ 
Sod would like it. 

I )i course, Eve knew well e gh thai 
would not like her toeat of the forbidden ti 
but the sin was so attractive that she was per- 
suaded, and took some of the fruit and ate it. 

I think Bhe must have felt rather frightened 
as she did so, and must have thottght: "S 
I should die, after all." But she ate; and as she 
did not perceive at once that she was any the 
worse for it. she went to find Adam ai _ him 
some of the fruit, and he, too, ate <>i* it. 

And then — ah! then, what happened? 

God came and spoke to them. 

How they must have felt when they heard His 
voice, the voice of the Great God who had b 
so good and loving to them! 

They must have begun at once to realize what 
a wicked tiling they had done in disobeying their 
Creator. Who had made them and given them such 
a beautiful place to live in. and everything they 



The Holy Warfare. 45 

needed, and. more than that, had made them so 
happy by being with them Himself in the garden. 
They felt now how wicked they had been to do 
the one thing He had told them not to do. 
And they hid themselves among the trees. 

But God called them out and made them con- 
fess what they had done. 

That is always the first thing we must all do. 
you know, when we have sinned; we must 
acknowledge our fault. 

Then God showed them that Satan had deceived 
them, and that they would certainly die. as He 
had said: and that they could not even remain in 
Paradise while they lived. He told them that He 
must put them out of the garden: for now that 
they had sinned, and evil was in them. He could 
not dwell with them, and have them about Him 
as before. They must leave that beautiful place 
at once. 

So Satan's wicked plan had succeeded, and he 
must have been delighted. 

But he had not been so entirely successful. 
after all. as he thought. 




Floating Angel, 
After Lorenzo Monaco. 



0;af olb gsrp£ttf 3 rallrb ff)r l&zml anb 
Safari, mfjirfj bmiflsfl) l\n rofjolt merit). 
Bm. xti 9. 

Jl ^frongrr ifjan f;r shall romr upon Mm, 
anb ourrromr fjim. ;& Kufet aei 22. 

£fj£ ICorb sam Ifjaf ffjrrr mas no man . . . 
ffjrrrforr Bis arm brongfif saloafion. Usa. 
It*. 16. 

3n Bis lone anb in Bis pity Br rrbrrmrb 
ffjrm. 3sa. betti. 9. 

J? sing uttfo ffjB Xorb a nrm song, for Br 
fjafl; bonr marvellous I fjings. Will) Wis omn 
iigfyt Ijanb, anb miify Bis fjoltj arm, fjaffj Br 
goffrn Bimsrlf ffrr rnrfory. }?s. xtmti 1, 2. 



CHAPTER III. 



GOD had told Adam and Eve that they must 
leave the Garden of Eden, and go to live in 
other parts of the earth which were not so 
beautiful; and that would have been enough to 
make them very miserable. But that was not 
the worst. 

The worst was that they would be separated 
from God. 

Of course He would be with them in one way. 
because He is everywhere; He would see all they 
did, and hear all they said, and He would speak 
to their conscience. But He had been so familiar 
with them, like a friend: He had walked and 
talked with them in the garden; God and man 
had been so united; and now Satan had come and 
separated them. 

This was their greatest sorrow. They would 
not have minded so much leaving Paradise, if 
they had not been separated from God. He was 



50 The Holt Wa 

so ( tood, so Loi ing ! They knew they never 
could be happy away from Him: it was I! 
with them that had made them bo bappy in V 
dise. 

And then, worse -till, they had qoI any i 
t<> hope that they could ever be uu I [im 

n. even after they diedi 

They fell they could do! to live with 

Hun unless they <-<»uId make up for whal they had 
dom*. and they knew they could i 
God waa n that they never could make 

up tor it. So tin ed hopel 

Bui something happened whicl 'inn. 

after all. a little hope something which m 
thmi think that perhaps all mig day be 

made right again. 

They heard God rebuke Satan for what In- 
had doin*. and say to him that the Seed of tl" 
ir<,,it<<K ,<litml<] bruisi his i 

The Seed of the woman meant a man who 
should be born of woman: and to bruise the head 
of the wicked serpent Satan. m< [aer 

him. It was as it God had said: " You have 
conquered man now. but a time will come when 
man will conquer you." 

Satan, no doubt, did not understand what 



The Holy Wabfabe. 51 



meant by this, but I think he must have begun 
to fear that he had not been quite so successful 
as he had thought. 

The fact is. children, it is of no use for people 
ever to think they can upset God's plans, for 
they cannot. God is too great, too powerful; 
and when He has a plan nobody can prevent His 
carrying it out. 

God's plan, when He created man. was that 
He would unite him to Himself, and that man 
should live for ever with Him: and Satan might 
have known he could not prevent that if God 
willed it. 

Satan knew something of God's greatness; he 
had been in Heaven and had seen God's Power 
and Glory: he knew he had been beaten when he 
fought against God there, and it seems very 
foolish of him to have thought he could succeed 
any better against Him here. 

However, he did think so. and he certainly had 
seemed to be successful; but when he heard God's 
words, he must have begun to feel uneasy, and to 
fear that perhaps he was going to be beaten on 
earth as he had been in Heaven — though he did 
not see how. 

God said no more at this time: and He turned 



52 The Holy Warfare. 

Adam and Eve out of Paradise, and they went 
away very sad. 

Still, they did have, as I say, this hope that 
God meant to make* everything right again, and 
to take them back into His favour. 

They hoped this would happen very soon; 
they probably thought the man whom God had 
spoken of would soon be born. 

But years passed, and although many men 
were born, and Adam had sons and grandsons and 
great-grandsons, so that at last there were a great 
many people living in the world, instead of just 
Adam and Eve alone, yet there was no man born 
who conquered Satan. On the contrary. Satan 
got the better of all of them, one after the other. 
He came and tempted them all, some in one way, 
some in another, and they every one of them 
gave way to him, and disobeyed God in some 
manner. 

Indeed, Satan found it very easy to make men 
sin, because they were all inclined to sin from 
their birth. You see they were all born of Adam 
— all descended from him — and as he was a sinner 
they inherited the inclination to sin from him. 

You know children are apt to be like their 
parents. Sometimes, when a man is a drunkard, 



The Holy Wabfabe. 53 

people say: u Ah yes, his father was a drunkard; 
he inherits the love for drink." He gets it by his 
birth, they mean, because he was born of a 
drunkard. 

So all men inherited sin from their forefather 
Adam, and all grew up sinful. Some, of course. 
were better than others, but no one was perfectly 
good. 

At last, four thousand years had passed and 
Satan may have begun to hope that, after all. 
God did not mean to keep His word, and that no 
one would ever be born who could resist and con- 
quer him. 

But God always keeps His word, and He had 
His plan all ready, only for some good reason He 
saw fit to wait all those years before He carried it 
out. 

This was His plan. 

He knew that no man — no one who was only 
man. that is — would ever be able to conquer 
Satan and make up for all man's sin: and so He 
determined that He Himself would become Man 
and do it. 

We do not know whether God would have 
become Man any way. even if Adam had not 
sinned, and all men had been good instead of bad. 



54 The Holt Warfare. 

Many believe H<" would— that Be would have 
become man in any case and would have eome 
down ami lived among men. 

Of course, He would then have bad a very 
different life from what He had when Be did 
come; for if all men had been u'<><>d instead of 
bad, they would all have welcomed Him with 
great joy ; they would have loved and worshipped 
Him as they ought, and would never have done 
anything to grieve or pain Him. 

Now, we might think that a- men had become 
so bad. and God knew that if Be became Man 
they would despise Him and hate Him. that they 
would ill-treat Him in every way and finally put 
Him to a cruel death — we might think Be would 
have said: ''No, I will not go down to these 
wicked people; they do not deserve to have Me 
among them, or to have Me do anything for 
them." 

That is no doubt what we should have said: 
but God is not like us and His thoughts are not 
like our thoughts. 

We think about what people deserve, and we 
often refuse to do tlieni a kindness because we 
say they do not deserve it. It would have been 



The Holy Warfare. 55 

terrible if God had treated us in that way and 
given us only what we deserved. 

But you see He did not think of our deserts. 
He thought of His great love for us poor sinners; 
and although He knew all He would have to bear 
if He came to live on earth, He determined to 
come because we needed Him and could not be 
saved without Him. 

Just think what wonderful goodness and love ! 
There was not the least necessity for God to do 
what He did for us; He did it just because He 
loved us, in spite of our being so bad, and still 
wanted to unite us to Himself and have us live 
with Him for ever. 

You see how it was, do you not ? It was 
man who had sinned by yielding to Satan and 
disobeying God; and it was man who must make 
up for that sin by conquering Satan and being 
perfectly obedient to God, or none of us could be 
saved; and as no mere man could ever do that, 
God Himself became Man and did it. 

It was God the Son Who undertook to do this. 
You know all about His coming as a little Baby 
just like us, growing up just as we grow up, but 
never doing anything the least bit wrong, although 



50 The Holt Warfare. 

Satan came and tempted Him in every way. 
Satan could never conquer Him. 

How astonished Satan must have been to find 
at last a Man WTiom he could not persuade to 
sin. He must have began to tremble and to - 9- 
pect that this was the Man WliomGod bad spoken 
of four thousand years before. 

Probably Satan did not know for some time 
Who our Lord wa — did not know that He was 
tlif Second Person of the Blessed Trinity. 

Hut when he at last found that out. and when 
our Lord — after His death upon the Cross and 
His visit to the Land of Departed Spirits— -rose 
from the dead and ascended into Heaven, Satan 
realized that all his plans were mined. 

He had thought he had made it impossible 
any of us to be again united to God: now, he -aw 
that our Lord had mad./ up for man's sin, and he 
knew He had promised that all who believed in 
Him and were baptized should be saved. They 
should rise from the dead at the Judgment Hay. 
and go to live for ever with Him in Heaven. 

Xow Satan was terribly angry at this, and he 
made up his mind this should not be the end of the 
matter. He determined that although all men 



The Holy Warfare. 57 

could now be saved they should not be. if he 
could help it. 

He knew that if he could keep them from 
believing and being baptized; if he could prevent 
their loving our Lord and trying to keep His com- 
mandments; if he could persuade them not to 
think about God aud Heaven and to think only of 
this world; if he could get them not to go to 
church, or to say their prayers or read their Bible 
or try at all to be good: then, after all, they could 
not go to live with God. 

He determined he would do that. And so. 
ever since our Lord died for us, Satan has tried to 
prevent us from thinking about God and all that 
He has done for us, for fear we should love Him: 
and he tries in every way to make us naughty. 

He tries that with every one of us — with you 
and with me. 0. dear children, do not let him 
succeed ! 

Remember when you are tempted to be 
naughty, that it is Satan trying to keep you out 
of Heaven. Do not let him ! He cannot do it, 
unless you allow him to; because if you really try 
to resist him. God will help you. and you will find 
you can. 

If you say firmly. ''No. I will not." when he 



'/'/// Hoi i W 

tempts jo i to d 
mak< i it. 

())•]! t here i - s< i 

~~ 
do n. why should you; * bal 
liim : "1 will do it. G 

thougb [do t to, [ will i II im. 

He loved me and died for me, and this 
thing I in return. 5 

tv\ inu r to make me forgi I 1 1 im, 
i ed." 

Thai i- the im, and 

alw in. 

It ifl II. »t ;i. 

11-. 

Onlj G But Sal 

the bad Angels under him. and he kern 

over all the wo 

same thing whether he 

-om<' «•! te temptation al* s - I rom 

him. 



Bebolb, one lifts tf;e &tm of fflian rame 
witfj tfje rlonbs of Beauen, anb rame to ffjB 
Ancient of Days, anb tbey brongljt Bim near 
before Bim. Bnb tfjere mas giuen Bim bo- 
minion, anb glory, anb a hingbom, tfjat all 
people, nations, anb languages, sljonlb seme 
Bim: Bis bominion is ^n everlasting bomin- 
ion, mfjirf; sfjall not pass amay, anb Bis 
kingbom tfjat mfjirl; sfjatl not be bestroyeb* 
Ban. oil 13, 14. 



CHAPTER IV. 



LET us see now what we have learnt so far. 
First, we learned that Adam sinned and 
was separated from God. and so were all 
his descendents. 

Secondly, we learned that no one could be 
united to God again until man had made up for 
man's sin. 

Thirdly, that because no mere man could ever 
do that. God Himself became Man and did it. 

Fourthly, that it was God the Son Who be- 
came Man — not God the Father, or God the Holy 
Ghost, but God the Son. the Second Person of the 
Blessed Trinity. 

Fifthly, that after He had made up for man's 
sin. He opened Heaven to all who would believe 
and obey Him. 

The gates of Heaven were closed to man 
when Adam sinned; none could enter. But 
when our dear Lord ascended into Heaven, the 
gates were thrown wide open for Him to p; — 



62 The Holt Wabfabe. 

through, and they have stayed open 

He keeps them open for as, and at the Judgment 

Day ever hristian will be able to go in. 

K ery year, as the day comes round when our 
Blessed Lord ascended into Beaven- Ascension 
Day — we must keep it in remembrance of Sim. 
We must go to church to thank Him for what 
Be did for us then, and we must think over all 
that happened. 

V<>n remember about it. do you 1. 

Sou remember that after our Lord had r 
from the dead and had spent forty days al 
six weeks, that i< — with Hi- discipL 5, 
them a great many things, He invited them 
Thursday morning t«» take a walk with Him in 
the country. 

They went out of the city of Jerusalem, where 
they were living, and went up on the Mount of 
Olives, our Lord no doubt talking to them in Hi- 
sweet, loving, earnest way as they went along. 

Perhaps there may have been something in 
His manner which made them feel a- if snine- 
thing unusual were going to happen. 

And then, you remember, as they stood on the 
hill. He lifted up His hands and gave them His 
Blessing. And as He did this. He began to rise 



The Holy Wabfarjs. 63 

from the earth, and went up and up until at last 
a cloud hid Him from them. 

They could not see what happened after that. 

But one of the Psalms tells us something 
about it. and teaches as one of the glad songs the 
good Angels sung that day. 

You know they must have been so interested 
in all that had gone on in the £arth since it was 
created. 

They must have been very grieved when they 
saw their old enemy. Lucifer, persuading men to 
be as disobedient to God as he himself had been; 
and very sad when they saw how weak and silly 
men were, and how they gave way to Satan in- 
stead of fighting against him as they — the Angels 
— had done when he was in Heaven. 

And when the Lord whom they worshipped 
went down Himself to earth to fight with Satan, 
how they must have watched the battle. 

The twenty-fourth Psalm tells us something 
about their rejoicing when the battle was over, 
and their Lord was returning in triumph to His 
heavenly Home. 

We can seem to see our Lord, surrounded by 
Angels, who had no doubt come in crowds to meet 
Him. arriving at the gates of Heaven. 



04 The Holt Warfare. 

Then the Angels that were with Him began to 
sing; and they sang : 

"Lift up your heads. ye gates, and be ye lift 
up, ye everlasting doors; and the King of Glory 
shall come in." 

Then the Angels in Heaven sang in their turn: 

-Who is this King of Glory ?" 

The others answered : 

"It is the Lord strong and mighty: even the 
Lord mighty in battle." And then they repeated 
their summons to open the gates : "Lift up your 
heads, ye gates, and be ye lift up, ye everlasting 
doors; and the King of Glory shall come in." 

Then the Angels inside sang again, asking 
once more : 

"Who is this King of Glory ?" 

Aud those outside replied : 

"Even the Lord of Hosts; He is the King of 
Glory." 

Hosts means multitudes; and our Lord is in- 
deed the Lord of Hosts — Lord of the hosts of 
angels and Lord of the hosts of men; Lord of all 
created beings. 

Then the gates were flung wide open and our 
Lord went in; and, as I have told you, the gates 



The Holy Wabfabe. 



were not shut again; our Blessed Lord keeps 
them open for us. 

Now all this about the glad song of the 
Angels, and the opening of the gates, and the 
glorious entrance of the King — all that is very 
bright and joyful; but you must not forget, dear 
children, all the sorrow that had gone before, 
and all it had cost our dear Lord to open those 
gates for us. 

In order to do it, He left His bright and 
beautiful home in Heaven, where He was in per- 
fect joy and happiness, where the Angels were 
always worshipping Him, and where He had 
thousands to wait upon Him, and came down 
here to this earth, where He lived in poverty, 
with not so much as one servant to wait on Him, 
and where people not only did not worship Him, 
but often treated Him with contempt and finally 
put Him to death. 

He did all that because in that way He could 
best open the gates of Heaven for us. 

When we see some one doing a great deal for 
another, giving himself ever so much trouble to 
make that other person happy, and the person is 
not a bit grateful, and does not give himself any 
trouble to please his kind friend in return, we 



66 The Holy Waefabe. 

think it disgraceful, we say he ought to be 
ashamed of himself. 

But I am afraid that is the way we often 
treat the Lord Jesus. Just think how He bore 
all that for you, bore all that sorrow and pain for 
you; and then, when you know He wants you to 
be good, to be obedient, loving, truthful, sweet- 
tempered, you grieve Him every day by being 
just the opposite— disobedient, or unloving, or 
untruthful, or bad-tempered. 

Ah ! dear children, think how ungrateful you 
are, continually grieving the dear Lord Jesus. 
Who did so much for you. 

He did it for each one of you, you know. He 
knew all about you already, although you were 
not yet born, because He was God and knew 
everything that was going to happen. He knew 
how you boys and girls would be growing up at 
this time, and He loved you. and wanted you to 
love Him in return, so that you might go at last 
to live with Him for ever. 

Try to think more of the dear Lord, my child- 
ren, and to love Him more. It is a bad, ungrate- 
ful heart that will not try to love and please 
Him, and I feel almost sure you have not bad 
hearts. If you have not felt very grateful, and 



The Holy Warfare. 67 

have not tried much to do as He wants you to, I 
hope it is only because you have not thought 
enough about it. 

But now you will try to think of Hirii, will 
you not, and of all He has done for you ? Here 
is a little prayer which will help you to remem- 
ber. If you say it every day, you will soon know 
it by heart. 

dear Lord Jesus, make me grateful to Thee 
for bearing so great sorrow and pain for me. 
Grant that I may in return try to please Thee by 
being loving, gentle, obedient, sweet-tempered 
and pure ; and at last let me enter in through 
the gates of Heaven which Thou hast opened for 
me. that I may live with Thee for ever. Grant 
this, dear Lord Jesus, Who, with the Father 
and the Holy Ghost, livest and reignest, One 
God, world without end. Amen. 



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CHAPTER V. 



YOU might think that our Blessed Lord's 
work for us was now finished. He had 
opened Heaven to us. so that man could 
again be united to God; what more could He do 
than that? 

He could do a great deal more. He could do 
more wonderful things for us than He had ever 
yet done. 

It was a great thing to make it possible for 
man to be united to God after his death, but our 
Lord did much more than that. He has made it 
possible for us to be united to God here on earth. 
Indeed, we must be united to Him here. It 
will not do to wait until we leave this world; 
that would be too late. Our union with God 
must begin here. 

Xow, let us see how we can be united to Him 
here. 

But first, do vou know what a member is? 



72 The Holy Warfare. 

A member is a part. The members of our 
body are parts of our body — our arms, legs. feet. 
hands. And all these parts are very closely 
joined to our body, are they not — closely united 
to it? 

Now, there is a way in which we can become 
as closely united to Christ as our members are to 
our body, so that we are His members. 

What is that way? When are we made mem- 
bers of Christ? 

You all know. You have all learned that each 
one of you, at Baptism, was made u a member of 
Christ, the child of God, and an inheritor of the 
Kingdom of Heaven." 

Yes; when we are baptized, Christ unites us 
to Himself and we become members of Him. And 
if we are united to Him we are united to God, of 
course, because Christ is God. 

So, you see that before our Baptism we are 
separated from God, but as soon as we are baptized 
we are united to Him. 

That is the reason we are so anxious to bring 
£ven little babies to be baptized just as soon as 
^we possibly can. We want everyone we love to 
be united to God. 

Holy Baptism, then, is the beginning of our 



The Holy Warfare. 73 

union with God — but it is only the beginning, it 
is not the ending. Even in this world God unites 
us to Himself still more closely than by Holy 
Baptism. 

The second way in which we are united to Him 
and He to us is very wonderful — it is the most 
wonderful thing in the whole world. It is the 
most sacred thing, too — the most holy, that is — 
and whenever we are talking about it, as we are 
now, we must be very serious, and must speak 
very gravely and reverently. 

Have you any idea what this is that I am go- 
ing to tell you about ? 

The night our dear Lord was betrayed by 
Judas, He was with the twelve Apostles in a large 
upper room in a house in Jerusalem, which prob- 
ably belonged to one of His friends. They had 
met there to keep the Feast of the Passover, a 
religious Feast of the Jews, which I will tell you 
more about some day. 

When they had finished the Feast, and before 
they sang the last hymn, our Lord began to do 
something they had never seen Him do before. 

He took some of the bread which was on the 
table, and blessed it very solemnly, and then 



74 The Holy Warfare. 

broke It and gave a part to each of the Apostles, 
and said: "Take, eat; This is My Body." 

Then he took a cup of wine and water mixed, 
and blessed that in the same solemn way, and 
gave It to the Apostles, that each might drink of 
It, and said : " Drink ye all of This, for This is 
My Blood:' 

Now, if our Lord had been only a man, like 
any other man, the Apostles would have thought 
He could not mean that He was really giving 
them His Body and His Blood. They would 
have thought it impossible. 

But they knew that He was more than man, 
they knew He was the Christ and could do all 
things, and that nothing was impossible to Him. 
They knew, too, that He was the Truth (S. John 
xiv. 6), and that if He said what He gave them 
was His Body and His Blood, It must be. 

But it was not only to the Apostles that our 
Lord gave that great gift of Himself — His Prec- 
ious Flesh and His Precious Blood. He is ready 
to give it to every Christian. 

By His command, His Priests do now just 
what He Himself did then. 

They consecrate the bread and the wine — they 
bless them, that is, just as He blessed them, and 



The Holy Warfare. 75 

use the same words over them that He used; and 
when they do that, He makes the bread and wine 
just what He made them that night. Those, 
then, who receive Them after the Consecration, 
receive Him, so that He really dwells within 
them, and is united to them as at no other time. 

Was I not right when I said that of all things 
in the world, the Holy Communion is the most 
Wonderful, the most Holy? Just think of our 
dear Lord coming to us in that way, uniting Him- 
self to us so really and truly when we receive the 
Holy Communion! 

The day of your First Communion will be the 
great day of your life. Something will happen 
to you then which is far more wonderful and 
beautiful than anything which has ever happened 
to you before — the dear Lord Jesus will come to 
you to dwell in you. 

You must be looking forward to that day, 
dear children, and thinking about it, thinking of 
that great happiness which will be yours when 
you receive the Lord. 

The day need not be so very far off, now. Our 
Lord loves to come to children as soon as they 
are old enough to understand that He really does 
come — that although they seem to receive only 



76 The Holy Warfare. 

Bread and Wine, yet they really receive the Lord 
Himself. 

When they can understand that the Lord 
Jesus is really there at the altar — that what seems 
to be only Bread and Wine is His Body and His 
Blood — and when they have also learned to love 
Him, so that they long to have Him come and 
dwell in them, then He allows them to receive 
Him in the Holy Communion. 

And He not only allows them to, but He says 
they must, if they want to have Everlasting Life. 
He says: 

"Except ye eat the Flesh of the Son of Man, 
and drink His Blood, ye have no Life in you. 

u Whoso eateth My Flesh and drinketh My 
Blood, hath Eternal Life" (S. John yi. 53, 54). 

Of course, there are things to be done before 
you are admitted to the Holy Communion. 

Some of these things will be done for you. 
For instance, you will be brought to the Bishop 
to be confirmed. He will lay his hands on your 
head and say a beautiful prayer; and when he 
does that, the Holy Grhost will come to you and 
will make you better prepared to receive the dear 
Lord than you were before. 



The Holy Warfare. 77 

Then there will be things you must do for 
yourself. You must study very carefully what- 
ever is given you to learn, and listen very atten- 
tively to what is taught you, and do faithfully 
whatever you are told by your parish priest to do 
as a preparation for receiving the Holy Com- 
munion. 

Perhaps you do not like to study, and you 
find it hard to listen attentively, and some of the 
things you may be told to do may not be agree- 
able. But of course you cannot expect to receive 
so great a gift without proving by your diligence 
and obedience that you really desire It. 

And you will not find your preparation too 
difficult if you remember that the dear Lord 
wants you to do and to learn those things, and if 
you always keep in mind the great Reward He 
holds out to you. 

You see now how much more our Blessed 
Lord has done for us than it would have been 
possible even to imagine. 

We could never have been grateful enough to 
Him if He had simply made it possible for us to 
be united to God in the way Adam was in Para- 
dise, but see how much more He has done. 
Adam never was united to God as we are. He 



78 The Holy Warfare. 

never was a member of Christ, as each one of 
us is. He never had God dwelling within him, 
as we have when we receive our Lord in the Holy 
Communion. 

God always has His own way in spite of all 
His enemies. He had willed to unite man closely 
to Himself, and all the wiles of Satan, and all the 
sin of man, could not prevent His will being 
done. 



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CHAPTER VI. 



NOW, I must give you one more warning, 
children, against your great enemy. 

You know I told you how angry he was 
because our Lord had made it possible for men to 
be united to God again, and how he made up his 
mind that although they could be they should not 
be, if he could prevent it. 

The consequence is that we have to be con- 
stantly on our guard against him. 

In the first place, he is of course always 
trying to keep people back from Baptism and 
from the Holy Communion. He tries to prevent 
their bringing their babies to be baptized. He 
suggests all sorts of reasons why they cannot 
bring them. It is too cold, or too hot, or the 
baby's dress is not ready. Or he tells them that 
the child is so young still, they may just as well 
wait a little while; and so they wait and wait. 



82 The Holy Warfare. 

and perhaps the child is not baptized for years — 
and Satan is so pleased all that time ! 

Of course, people do not know it is Satan who 
puts these excuses into their minds. They do 
not think anything about Satan, at all. That is 
the great trouble, you see. They forget all about 
him, and so are not on their guard against him # 
I do not want you to grow up like that. Never 
forget Satan, for you may be sure he never for- 
gets you. 

Then he goes to grown-up persons who have 
never been baptized, and tries to keep them back 
from Holy Baptism. He lies to them just as he 
lied to Eve. 

If he finds they are thinking to themselves : 
"We really ought to be baptized. Our Lord said 
we must be. He said, ; Except a man be born of 
water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the 
Kingdom of God';" then Satan whispers, "Did He 
say that ? Are you sure ? Perhaps there is some 
mistake about it. At all events, He could not 
have meant just what the words seem to mean; 
and there is not the least need of your worrying 
yourself about it ; you will be sure to get into 
the Kingdom of Heaven all right at last, whether 
you are baptized or not." 



The Holy Warfare. 83 

And if they are thinking of the Holy Com- 
munion and saying to themselves : ;, We ought 
to receive It. Our Lord said. 'Except ye eat the 
Flesh of the Son of Man and drink His Blood, ye 
have no life in you:'" Satan suggests. "Did He 
say that ? Oh, but He could not possibly have 
meant it. you know. He must have meant some- 
thing else. Really, it cannot be necessary for 
you to receive the Holy Communion. Why 
should you ? There are plenty of people who do 
not." 

You may hardly believe it, children, but there 
are many persons who are just like Eve; they 
believe what Satan says rather than what God 
says. 

But of course it is only some whom Satan 
succeeds in deceiving in this way. The others do 
not believe him; and so we constantly see child- 
ren and grown persons coming to the Font to be 
baptized; and every year we see the boys and 
girls (and older people, too, if they have neglected it 
before) coming to receive their First Communion. 

Ah! that is a sight which makes the bad 
angels very angry, but it makes tbe good angels 
very happy indeed. If they were sad when man 
was separated from God, how joyful they must be 



84 The Holy Wabfaee. 

when they see the people coining to be united to 
Him again in the Blessed Sacrament. 

We may be sure there are always some of the 
good Angels present at every Celebration of the 
Holy Communion. If only our eyes could see 
Angels, we should see the Altar surrounded by them. 

Perhaps you know that earthly kings have 
what is called a body-guard — a company of sol- 
diers, that is, mounted on fine horses, and wearing 
a beautiful uniform, who go with the king when 
he drives out in state. Some ride in front of his 
carriage, some behind, others at the two sides. 
They go with him to see that nothing happens to 
him and to defend him if in danger; or if there 
is no danger, they go just to do him honour, be- 
cause a king is so great a person. 

It is a very fine sight and I wish you could see it. 

I wish you could see the King of Italy, for 
instance, driving out with his body-guard. They 
wear a beautiful blue uniform, all trimmed with 
silver, and waving plumes on their heads. They 
have bright swords at their side, and are mounted 
on most beautiful horses. About fifty, perhaps, 
of them come first; then follows the fine great 
coach in which the king sits, drawn by six or 
eight horses; then come some fifty more of these 



The Holy Warfare. 85 

splendid guards. The coach is very handsome, 
too: nearly all of glass, with finely painted wood- 
work, and a great deal of gilding. And inside 
sits the king, in uniform, with much gold and 
silver about his dress, and looking very grand 
indeed. 

Yes, that is a fine sight, children; it would be 
difficult to imagine a finer one. 

But ah! if our eyes could be opened at the 
time of the Holy Communion, we should see a far 
more splendid sight than that. The body-guard 
of Angels who stand about the Altar to do honour 
to the great King of heaven and earth are much 
more beautiful than that body-guard of soldiers. 
I suppose we have no idea how beautiful the 
Angels are. 

And what if we could see not only that 
glorious body-guard but the King Himself ! Oh, 
dear children, what would that earthly king be, 
in spite of all his grandeur, compared with the 
great King of kings ? He is so beautiful that we 
could not bear the sight now; but some day, the 
Bible tells us, we shall see the King in His 
Beauty. (Isaiah xxxiii. 17.) 

That will not be until we have left this world. 
But in the mean time we must not forget that 



86 The Holy Warfare. 

the King in His Beauty is often with us, although 
we cannot see Him. 

God has given us very excellent eyes, but it 
did not please Him to make them able to see 
everything. 

Did you ever look through the little glass 
that is called a microscope ? 

We will suppose you have one now in your 
hand, and in the other hand you have a little 
flower — a pure white flower. There does not 
seem to be a speck on it anywhere. 

Now, put it under the microscope, and all at 
once you see, perhaps, that there are black insects 
crawling on it. You think, "Why, I did not 
know they were there," and you take the flower 
from under the microscope and look at it closely. 
No insects. The petals look as pure and free 
from any specks as before. You put it under the 
glass a second time, and there are the insects 
again. 

Then, of course, you know that the trouble is 
with your eyes; the insects are there all the time 
but your eyes are not able to see them. 

There are thousands of stars which are so far 
off that we do not see them at all. We may 
often be looking straight at them, but we do not 



The Holy Warfare. 87 

see them unless we look at them through a teles- 
cope. But we know they are there all the time, 
only it has not pleased God to give us eyes which 
are able to see them. 

So it has not pleased Him to give us eyes 
which can see our Blessed Lord or the Holy 
Angels. But how absurd it would be to think 
they are not with us just because we cannot see 
them. If these eyes of ours cannot see even 
such things as we have been talking of, without 
the help of instruments, it is not likely they 
could see the Heavenly Hosts. But we know, as 
well as if we saw them, that they are there. We 
know that at the Holy Eucharist, oui Blessed 
Lord, surrounded by His Angelic body-guard, is 
with us. We are kneeling in His very Presence. 

Never fail to be present at the Holy Eucharist 
every Sunday, even if you are not yet permitted 
to receive the Holy Communion. Think what 
you lose if you stay away. Others will have 
been in the Presence of the Lord; you will have 
missed It. 

You cannot make up that loss by going to 
some other service, or to Sunday School. He 
will not be with you then at all in the same way. 
It is in the Holy Eucharist that He is especially 



The Holy Warfare. 



present with us; and how do you suppose He 
feels if His children do not come to meet Him 
there and to worship Him ? Do you think He 
can be pleased ? 

But if you realize that He is there — and if 
you love Him — you will be sure to come. 

Perhaps some of you think it strange that I 
say, //you love Him. Perhaps you are thinking: 
11 If we love Him ? Why, how can we help loving 
the dear Lord Who has done so much for us ?" 

I hope some of you are thinking that; I wish 
I could think that you all are. But I said "if" 
because I know how early Satan attacks children, 
and I could not help fearing that he might have 
already succeeded in making some of you forget 
the Lord, or that he may have made you unloving 
and ungrateful. 

What dreadful words, are they not ? Unlov- 
ing ! Ungrateful ! Is it possible that there is 
any one of you whose heart the Lord looks at 
and finds without any love and gratitude to Him? 
It would seem impossible, and yet it may come to 
be so with any one of you, if you are not on 
your guard against your great enemy. 

Even after people are baptized — even after 
thev are admitted to the Holy Communion — 



The Holy Warfare. 



Satan can succeed in making them forget the 
Lord and care only for this world. He may suc- 
ceed with you. if you are not on your guard 
against him. 

He will tempt you in all sorts of ways. 

He often begins early in the morning, as soon 
as you wake. He tempts you to think you are so 
sleepy you really cannot get up: because if he 
can persuade you to stay in bed until there is 
only just time enough to get ready for breakfast 
and school, he will have prevented your saying 
any morning prayers. 

Then, he will very likely suggest cross words 
to use to your brothers and sisters at breakfast: 
and afterwards he will go to school with you and 
try to make you naughty there. 

After he has succeeded with you during the 
day. he will persuade you that you are too tired 
to say your prayers at night, and so you will go 
to bed without even asking God's forgiveness for 
having forgotten Him all day. 

When Sunday comes. Satan will try to make 
you think it is tiresome to go to church, and 
that it would be nicer to stay at home and read 
an interesting book, or go to walk. He is almost 
sure to try to keep you away from church, be- 



90 The Holy Warfare. 

cause it is the Lord's House and his great object 
is to keep you as far separated from God as he 
possibly can. 

Now, when these temptations, and others like 
them, come, remember from whom they come, 
and to whom you will be yielding if you give way. 

Remember, too, that you need not yield to 
him unless you choose. 

He was so great a conqueror once, it is true, 
that no man could successfully resist him; but a 
Greater than he overcame him at last, and since 
then, unless we allow him to, he cannot harm us. 

So pray constantly for a firm will to resist 
him. 

The good Angels will help you, you know. 
God sends them to our assistance. u He shall 
give His Angels charge over thee, to keep thee in 
all thy ways" (Ps. xci. 11). They are all 
"ministering Spirits, sent forth to minister for 
them who shall be heirs of salvation' ' (Heb. 
I. 14). 

They are glad to come and be with us and 
help us. "The Angel of the Lord tarrieth round 
about them that fear Him, and delivereth them 1 ' 
(Ps. xxxiv. 7). We do not know how many 
times they may have delivered us from all sorts 



The Holy Warfare, 91 

of dangers — dangers that we did not even know 
we were in, perhaps. We cannot tell how often, 
too, they may have driven away the evil spirits or 
devils (as the Bible calls the bad angels) when 
they were trying to tempt us. 

And they are so glad when we fight bravely 
against their old enemies; and glad, too, when, 
after we have been sinful and have let Satan get 
the better of us, we repent and are sorry and 
come to God to beg His forgiveness. "There is 
joy in the presence of the Angels of God over 
one sinner that repenteth" (St. Luke xv. 10). 

And then, you know, we have not only the 
interest and good will of all the Angels, but we 
have, each one of us, one especial Angel appointed 
by God to be our constant companion, and guide, 
and protector — our Guardian Angel, as he is 
called. 

You would do well to learn this short prayer 
(it is the Prayer Book Collect for the Feast of St. 
Michael and All Angels) so that you can say it 
when you find yourself in any danger — danger 
either of soul or body. 

u O Everlasting God, Who hast ordained and 
constituted the services of Angels and men in a 
wonderful order; mercifully grant, that as Thy 



The Holy Warfare. 



holy Angels always do Thee service in Heaven, 
so by Thy appointment they 'may succour and 
defend us on earth; through Jesus Christ our 
Lord. Amen." 

And it is not only on earth that the Angels 
will help us. After the Christian soul leaves the 
body, they take charge of it and carry it safely to 
Paradise. 

Is not that beautiful ! What a comfort to 
know that when we die — when we go away, 
leaving behind us those whom we love here and 
starting out all by ourselves on that unknown 
journey — what a comfort it is to know that the 
Angels will not let us go alone. They will be 
with us and guide us, and will defend us if the 
evil Spirits still try to harm us on our journey. 

And if we have been in the habit of thinking 
often about our good friends the Angels, they 
will not seem like strangers, you know, when we 
see them. They will be like old acquaintances; 
and so we shall not feel lonely even though we 
have left behind us all our earthly friends. We 
shall travel happily in the Angels' company, as 
they guide us safely to that country where the 
evil Spirits cannot come near us any more, and 



The Holy Warfare. 93 

the war we have had to wage with them will be 
ended. 

But remember, in order to have the Angels for 
your companions when you die, you must have 
them for your companions now. You must be 
on the same side as they are in that Holy War- 
fare which began when they took up arms for 
God against Lucifer, and which has gone on ever 
since. 

Every one of us has to take part in that war. 

The Angels, you remember, had to make their 
choice as to which side they would be on — whether 
on God's side or on the side of His enemy; Adam 
and Eve had to make their choice; and every one. 
every boy and every girl, has to do the same. 

Which side will you be on ? Satan's or God's ? 

You have already been enlisted on the right 
side, you know, every one of you. When you 
were baptized, you were taken into God's army, 
and signed with the sign of the Cross, in token 
that you would fight manfully under Christ'> 
banner against sin, the world, and the devil, and 
continue Christ's faithful soldier and servant unto 
your life's end. 

Pray earnestly, then, each one of you. that 
you may never be a deserter — that you may 



94 



The Holy Warfare. 



never leave Christ's army and go over to the 
enemy. 

Pray that as the dear Lord, for love of you, 
fought that terrible battle with Satan and over- 
came him, you, in your turn, for love of Him, 
may also, by His Grace, fight and overcome ; and 
so at last reach the Heavenly Country where He, 
the Great Victor, awaits His fellow-warriors. 




BY THE SAME AUTHOR. 



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